Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Workforce Compensation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Alief ISD diagnosticians urge board to include them in teacher retention incentives
Summary
More than a dozen Alief ISD educational diagnosticians told the board they were excluded from recent retention and stipend awards and asked trustees to analyze pay parity and add a $3,000 retention incentive for diagnosticians.
More than a dozen educational diagnosticians asked the Alief ISD Board of Trustees on the public comment portion of its meeting to include diagnosticians in the district's recent retention incentives and stipends.
The diagnosticians — speaking individually and collectively — said they meet certification and experience requirements and perform functions they say are essential to special education services. "We are returning," Pamela Lacy, an educational diagnostician, said. "We're having a hard time understanding why we're not qualifying for this retention bonus when there are other positions in the district that do not work with students and they're getting the bonus."
The group outlined specific concerns about pay equity and workload. Maria Isabel Salter, who has been a diagnostician at Alief ISD since 2017, presented district caseload figures and argued a $3,000 retention payment would aid recruitment and retention. "As of 03/05/2025, there were 923 initial referrals completed. There are 525 referrals that are in the testing process. There are 372 referrals that need to be tested and ordered by 05/30/2025," Salter said. She added that diagnosticians are required to have a teaching certification and often three years of classroom experience before qualifying for diagnostician certification.
Other speakers described regular overtime, prolonged work hours, travel between campuses, and duties that extend beyond evaluation tasks. "Our workload regularly shifts and increases, and we're expected to cover it no matter what, which means regularly working at night and on the weekends," Joanna Macias said. Several speakers said diagnosticians perform mentorship and campus support roles that are not reflected in their current pay grade.
Board members and staff acknowledged the comments and committed to follow-up. Trustee(s) asked staff to provide a contact for the diagnosticians; Dr. Porter was asked to ensure appropriate follow-up. A district official later told the board the human resources and special education teams would review the requests and perform a salary analysis.
Why it matters: Diagnosticians oversee evaluation timelines and eligibility decisions that affect special education services, federal and state funding calculations, and campus instructional planning. The diagnosticians told trustees that pay disparities and exclusion from stipends are affecting morale and could affect retention.
Next steps: District staff said they will conduct a salary analysis and coordinate with Special Education leadership; diagnosticians asked for a clear explanation of pay-grade classifications (P4, P10) and for inclusion in retention incentives or stipends where appropriate.
